


Courage

by IDMIDray



Series: Ironqrow week 2021 [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28746513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IDMIDray/pseuds/IDMIDray
Summary: What does one do when one has a crush on the charismatic and good looking James Ironwood? Why, they pine until they get a shove from their friends and sister. Set in an AU, please enjoy college life Team STRQ.Day 2 of Ironqrow week 2021: Bad Luck Charm and Hero
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/James Ironwood, Raven Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long
Series: Ironqrow week 2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105943
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	Courage

**Author's Note:**

> Phew, nothing like getting this out there last minute. Would have been here sooner if my cat hadn't decided to lay on my lap for thirty minutes.  
> Anyways, please enjoy, kudos and comments are much appreciated.

“You know he’s into you right?” Raven asked her twin, after she popped her bubblegum for the tenth time.

Qrow glared at his sister, “Can you quit doing that?”

“Doing what little brother?” Raven asked with a smirk as she swung her leg over the edge of the bunk bed in Qrow’s dorm.

“You know what.” Qrow replied as he flipped through his homework, knowing full well he will not be doing it until he got to class in two days.

Raven sighed, “Fine, anyways, that Ironwood hunk is into you.”

Qrow frowned, “He is not. How could he be? I’m… well… me.” He stared blankly at his papers, “James is James.”

Raven rolled her eyes, “You’re an idiot.”

“Why is Qrow an idiot now?” Summer asked as she pushed the door open, Taiyang right behind her carrying the group’s dinner.

“He’s an idiot because he doesn’t believe that absolute edible man is interested in him.”

Summer smiled, “James?”

Taiyang set the food down on the table right next to Qrow’s notes. “There’s a certain strangeness to hearing your girlfriend talk about another man.”

“Try being related to her.” Qrow muttered, fully aware of how warm his face felt.

Summer slid into the chair next to Qrow and rested her head on his shoulder, “You know, love doesn’t discriminate. Don’t be so hard on yourself, a lot of people see you in a much greater light than you do. Sexy James Ironwood included.” She said teasingly.

Qrow groaned and leaned back in his chair. “I hate all three of you.”

“Come on man, you’ve been crushing on this dude since freshman orientation. The guy is intelligent but dense, he probably doesn’t even know you feel the same way. You may have to make that first move.”

Qrow slunk down in his chair, trying to hide in his shirt. “Alright, as much as I enjoy teasing my brother, when he starts hiding in his shirt, I know we reached his threshold. So, let us eat and talk about what we’re all doing over Spring break.” Raven said, hoping down off the bunk bed and pulling out the food.

Qrow couldn’t pay attention to their conversation, offering only noncommittal grunts of acknowledgment whenever he felt it was appropriate. He had met James by accident two years ago, he had overslept and Raven, after trying twice to wake him up, left him for dead and went to the orientation on her own. Him being him, he ended up going to the wrong campus, with disheveled hair and an overall homeless look about him. He had quite literally run into to the man, who had taken it all in good grace, they had looked like quite the odd pair walking down the path. Qrow still wearing his sleep shirt and an old pair of jeans that had fraying ends and holes in the knees and James wearing a crisp uniform that framed his muscles perfectly and left little to the imagination. They had made small talk all the way to the correct building, James telling Qrow that he himself had gotten turned around at the administrative building as he had had to come in earlier to correct some paperwork. Qrow had said he sucked with directions which wasn’t true, but it sounded better than having overslept and your evil twin took the only map with her. In retrospect, that may have made James laugh, as it was, he had nodded and agreed this was a big place and he only knew it as well as he did because he had taken a summer course or two at one of the campuses prior to his official enrollment. Just his luck, he would find an overachiever attractive. But there was just something about James that he found attractive and it was more than his looks. There was his kindness, James had been known to skip classes whenever someone he knew needed his help, there was his sense of responsibility, he had been known to stay late making up those classes he missed. His over-achieving, he took way too many courses and excelled at all of them, how the man was able to sleep and find time to hang out with him with his workload was beyond him. But Qrow thinks, what really made him fall for the man, was his perseverance, the man never gave up, he always found a way to make things work, and he did it all with a smile on his face.

“Earth to Qrow, I think we lost him girls.” Taiyang joked, pulling Qrow out of his thoughts.

Qrow rolled his eyes, “Like Hell you would lose me that easily.”

“You should go talk to him; I don’t think you could concentrate on eating let alone this project that’s due tomorrow.” Summer whispered in his ear, slightly nudging him to stand up.

“You know, that’s a good idea, Qrow, I’m kicking you out of the dorm until you tell the man how you feel.” Taiyang said, getting up to grab Qrow’s phone, Raven eagerly getting up and grabbing Qrow’s arm.

“Wait, Tai, that’s not fair!” Qrow squawked as he was dragged to his feet and subsequently kicked out.

“Bye Qrow! Just remember, you aren’t allowed in the girls’ dorm either!” Taiyang shouted at him as he closed the door in his face.

Qrow stood there with his phone in his hands, he blinked when he realized he had left his dorm key on the dresser. Resigning to his fate, knowing how his sister and his best friend could get, he walked down the hallway and up the stairs towards the only other person he could possibly go to. Standing there awkwardly, staring at the door that was separating them, he started chewing on his lip, he didn’t even know if he was here, the man was always doing something. He pulled out his phone and called James’ number.

James answered on the second rind, “Qrow? It’s not like you to call, what happened?”

Qrow smiled at the concern evident in his voice, “Oh, my idiot roommate just locked me out the dorm. I need a place to crash for the night if that’s okay.”

James chuckled, “Do I want to know why he kicked you out this time?” Qrow heard some muffled shuffling coming over the phone.

“Did I call you at a bad time?” Qrow asked, mentally berating himself for choosing calling over texting. “And probably.”

“No, I was just cleaning up and getting ready to head back now.” James responded, “You’re lucky I don’t have a roommate, so I have a free bed. You can stay the night Qrow, it is never any problem. You know that.”

“How is it you got a dorm all to yourself anyways?” Qrow asked, sliding down to wait in the hall for James to arrive.

“Because I requested it, it’s easier to study and focus when you don’t have a roommate constantly coming in and out. Besides, I’m rarely there so it’s not like I need one around.”

“Oh buddy, you got no idea how much roommates mean to the overall college experience. Or so I was told by somebody when Raven insisted, we apply to this particular university.” Qrow muttered, staring at his nails, Raven had wanted to go to this university for a particular major, Qrow had had no plans or desires to continue his education past high school, but Raven didn’t want to go alone so he decided to try the teaching program they offered. He hated the coursework, but he was really entertaining the idea of becoming a teacher.

James laughed again, and it was like music in his ears, “I think we’ve come to terms with the fact that I am not having a normal college experience.”

“Yeah, but that’s because you have goals, you want to become this big hotshot.”

“Wanting to go into politics makes me a big hotshot?” James asked with a slightly sarcastic tone.

Qrow rolled his eyes, “Why did you choose politics again?”

“Because I want to make a difference. Not just for myself, but for as many people as I can. I was considering the military too, but they have to make some tough calls and I’m not sure I can stomach some of those decisions.”

“And politics doesn’t make tough calls?”

James sighed, “They do, but with more good people running the government, good results come out.”

“Okay, mister big hotshot, I’ll let you go so you can get here and let me into your dorm room.”

“See you in a minute Qrow.” James responded; the call disconnected.

Qrow smiled at his phone, the picture he had taken of James in a tank top two days before everyone went home for summer break, staring up at him. His heart started beating loudly in his chest, to confess his feelings meant potentially putting his friendship at risk and he wasn’t sure if he could do that. But on the other hand, if James did have feelings for him, he would be able to take the college’s most eligible bachelor as Raven called him, off the market.

He was still weighing the pros and cons when James walked up to him, “Qrow, did you eat dinner?”

Qrow blinked up at him, taking in the fact that he was carrying two takeout containers and a bag that looked like it was filled with an entire library. Qrow whistled, “No wonder you stay in such good shape, can you even feel your back?”

James smiled and rolled his eyes, “My bag is not that heavy.”

Qrow scoffed and stood up, “I doubt that, I bet if you handed that bag to me, I’d keel over.”

“You should work out with me some time, I’m sure you would be surprised about how much muscle you actually possess.”

Qrow took the containers from James so he could open the door, “You end up seeing me working out you’ll die from laughing too hard.”

“I doubt that, you’d look great in workout clothes.” James said as he walked into the dorm.

Qrow stopped when he heard that, his face flushed. He almost dropped the food, which he noticed was his and James’ favorite meals from the cafeteria, which he hadn’t even known was still open right now.

“Qrow?” James asked after he had noticed Qrow had stopped in the doorway.

Qrow cleared his throat, “Jimmy, I’m making a decision and I don’t want to regret it.”

James walked back to stand in front of Qrow. “What is this decision?”

Qrow took a deep breath to steel his nerves and looked into James’ blue eyes. “How do you feel about me?”

James blinked, “How I feel about you? Qrow, you’re my friend.”

Qrow rolled his eyes, “You know what I meant.”

James swallowed, “I… we… we are friends b-but I would like to be more.”

Qrow smiled at the adorable stutter, at the way James had fixed the tie he was wearing, something he only did when he was nervous. “Good, that’s good.” He stepped closer, “I would like to be more too.”

James stared at him, his gaze slowly falling to land on Qrow’s lips. Qrow watched as he licked his lips. Qrow stepped further into James’ personal space. But before he could smoothly go in for a kiss, he tripped over his own shoelaces, made a very undignified noise of surprise, and felt his face turn red when James caught him. Because of course he caught him. “As much as I find your clumsiness cute, please be careful and tie your shoelaces.”

“Hey, I was rudely thrown out of my dorm, I didn’t have time to tie my shoes.” Qrow said, fully aware that he had been sitting and waiting for James for an hour.

James rolled his eyes fondly, “Why did Taiyang kick you out of the dorm, I don't believe you told me?”

“He kicked me out until I confessed my feelings to you.” Qrow said and then he groaned at how embarrassing that sounded.

James laughed, “I’ll have to thank him.” He pulled Qrow inside of his dorm and closed the door with a kick. He clumsily kissed Qrow’s lips, pulling Qrow closer to his body. Neither of them were good kissers, having no experience, but neither cared, too busy trying to be as close as possible. They only stopped long enough for James to put the food in his mini fridge to be consumed later.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully no one was too OOC. I try to keep everyone in character. I also once again failed to keep STR out of an Ironqrow fic, but I'm not sorry because I love them.


End file.
